Normative divergence as a limitation: the case of EU-China counterterrorism cooperation

Abstract

The European Union (EU) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have been long-standing partners across various sectors; however, as their global presence evolves, their relations have experienced challenges stemming from their divergent normative stances, particularly in more politically sensitive fields, such as counterterrorism (CT). While the actors manage to cooperate on diverse non-traditional security issues, CT continues to face limitations, prompting reflection on what hinders collaboration. Accordingly, by utilizing a single case study and applying constructivism as a theoretical framework, the thesis aims to uncover how the degree of normative gap affects their level of engagement from 2013 to the present. Given the objective of the thesis, qualitative document analysis is employed to identify the level of CT cooperation, alongside qualitative content analysis combined with qualitative document analysis to measure the extent of normative gap between the actors. Focusing on the normative divide, instead of the economy-security nexus or differing conceptualizations of “terrorism”, enables the demonstration of how the ideational factors impact the level of CT cooperation between the EU and China, thereby filling the gap in literature, which overlooks the latter. The findings revealed that the substantial normative gap causes limited CT cooperation. In particular, the different normative perspectives derived from the principles they invoke in their policies and discourse do not align, resulting in divergent normative perspectives on the legitimate CT activity. Nevertheless, as normative foundations shift in response to globalization, as observed in this case study, this domain demands further scrutiny.